SAN FRANCISCO — Bruce Bochy has made more than his fair share of tough decisions in a managerial career that’s now nearly 3,000 games old.
It was only fitting that win No. 1,500 on Tuesday was filled with them.
Bochy became just the 21st manager in major league history to reach the milestone when the San Francisco Giants, batting first at home for the first time since moving west, used a three-run first inning as a springboard to a 5-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in the nightcap of a doubleheader.
Left-hander Tony Cingrani held the Giants to two runs in 6 2/3 innings and recorded his first career RBI with a third-inning single as the Reds rolled to a 9-3 victory in the first game.
In a nightcap featuring the Reds in their home red tops and San Francisco in its road grays because it was the makeup of a July 4 rainout in Cincinnati, the Giants built a pair of three-run leads and then got 4 1/3 innings of shutout relief from five relievers en route to the manager’s 1,500th win in his 18 1/2 year career.
“I don’t know what that number means except that I’m thankful, grateful,” said Bochy, a 58-year-old who spent the first 12 years of his managerial career with the San Diego Padres before taking over the Giants’ helm 6 1/2 seasons ago. “I wish we were in a better situation right now.”
Bochy became the third active manager to reach 1,500 wins. One of the men ahead of him — former Giants manager Dusty Baker (1,638) — had twice denied Bochy his historic win from the other dugout in the first two games of the series. Detroit Tigers skipper Jim Leyland has 1,731 wins.
“I know how lucky I am,” Bochy said. “To be even mentioned with some of those managers. … I’m very thankful.”
The accomplishment didn’t go unnoticed by Baker.
“He’s a guy I enjoy managing against,” Baker said. “Congratulations to him.”
Right-hander Jake Dunning retired one batter to bail starter Barry Zito out of a fifth-inning jam. Jose Mijares, Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo followed Dunning to the mound and protected San Francisco’s 5-3 lead.
Casilla (4-2) was credited with the win, which would have gone to Zito had he been able to finish the fifth inning. Pulling the veteran was among Bochy’s toughest decisions of the night.
“I wanted to get him the win,” Bochy said of Zito, who now is winless in his last nine starts. “But he had worked hard. I felt I had to get him.
“Sometimes you have to put your emotions aside and do what’s best for the club.”
Romo got the final four outs — all strikeouts — for his 24th save, snapping a three-game Giants losing streak.
Todd Frazier had three hits, including a pair of doubles, for the Reds, who stranded 14 baserunners, including two apiece in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth innings. Jay Bruce also had three hits, all singles, as the Reds out-hit the Giants 10-9.
Baker walked away lamenting the lack of clutch hits that had been plentiful Monday in the Reds’ 11-0 win and in Cincinnati’s victory in the first game of the doubleheader.
“One or two would have been nice,” he said. “We had baserunners every inning. It seemed we had guys on second base all game. Their pitching shut us down.”
Right-hander Greg Reynolds (0-1), making his Reds debut, took the loss. He gave up five runs in five innings, including three runs on three hits in the top of the first.
Pablo Sandoval had the big hit of the inning, a two-run double that plated Tony Abreu and Buster Posey to open the scoring. Hunter Pence, Gregor Blanco and Brandon Belt also drove in runs for the Giants, who were outscored 34-6 in five consecutive losses to the Reds.
“That’s an amazing accomplishment. Fifteen-hundred wins is hard to fathom,” Pence said of Bochy’s milestone win. “He’s ahead of the game. You just have a lot of confidence in all his moves and how he handles the game.”
Zito pitched 4 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on six hits. He struck out four and walked three.
In the opener, the Reds supported Cingrani (4-1) with a 15-hit attack, nine of which came in the second and third innings against Giants starter Eric Surkamp (0-1). Shortstop Zack Cozart drove in two runs with four hits, including a solo home run in the fifth inning, and catcher Devin Mesoraco homered for the second day in a row, a three-run blast in the second, among three hits.
Joey Votto also homered for the Reds, his 16th of the season, a solo shot that led off the third.
NOTES: Both starting pitchers in Game 1 were promoted from Triple-A before the game as a 26th man on the roster, allowable for doubleheaders. Cingrani was demoted in between games so that the Reds could use the same allowance to call up Reynolds from Triple-A Louisville and start him in Game 2. … Reds CF Shin-Soo Choo went 0-for-3 in the opener, snapping his 16-game hitting streak. … Before the first game, the Giants sent RHP George Kontos to Triple-A Fresno after he threw a career-high 63 pitches in relief of RHP Tim Lincecum in Monday’s game. RHP Yusmeiro Petit was summoned from Fresno to take his place and saw immediate action, replacing Surkamp in the third inning and providing 5 1/3 innings of two-run relief. … San Francisco designated RHP Hunter Strickland, who had been pitching for Class A San Jose, for assignment to create a spot on the 40-man roster for Petit. … Former San Francisco closer Brian Wilson is scheduled to throw for major league teams Thursday in Los Angeles after having held a private session for the Giants on Monday in San Francisco. Wilson hasn’t pitched in game action since April 12, 2012, when he injured his right (pitching) elbow and subsequently underwent a second Tommy John surgery.